Promotion officials announced the news on Wednesday, revealing
Weidman’s teammate Constantinos
Philippou will now step up to face “The Barbarian” at the Dec.
29 event. The Serra-Longo Fight Team representative was initially
supposed to face Nick Ring at
UFC 154 this past weekend, but that bout was scrapped after Ring
withdrew at the last minute due to illness.

The pay-per-view event takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in
Las Vegas and is headlined by a heavyweight championship rematch
between reigning titlist Junior dos
Santos and former belt holder Cain
Velasquez.

Philippou (pictured), 32, rides a four-fight winning streak heading
into his clash with Boetsch. The hard-hitting middleweight has been
perfect so far this year, outpointing Court McGee
in March before doing the same to Riki Fukuda
in July at UFC 148. Known for his punching power, Philippou has
earned five of his 11 victories by knockout and has never been
finished in his four years as a pro.

Boetsch, 31, has also won four straight fights. The former light
heavyweight has not yet tasted defeat at 185 pounds, posting wins
over Kendall
Grove and Ring last year before kicking off 2012 with a Feb. 26
come-from-behind technical knockout of highly regarded Japanese
talent Yushin
Okami. Most recently, “The Barbarian” topped former Bellator
titlist Hector
Lombard on July 21, taking a split verdict from the
heavy-handed southpaw at UFC 149.